You never would have guessed Ingmar Bergman to start a movie where a soldier is injured on a firing range while trying to save a puppy - yes, a puppy - but as if to compensate almost immediately the director throws in his most trippy sequence yet, with the man traipsing through a swamp and having incredible avante-garde visions while in hospital. (Unlike anything he'd made until then.)
The rest of the movie follows along the lines of many of his early movies - a melodrama about young lovers. He's a blind piano player (40s cinema was full of blind pianists eg Love Story), she's the maid, they love each other but are kept apart by social class and his bitterness. Eventually love finds a way.
This is a really sweet movie, helped considerably by Mai Zetterling's charming performance as the maid. The guy is okay (he reminded me of a young Dirk Bogarde at times... and you know something, this would have made a good Bogarde vehicle) but Zetterling is a star; the first real one Bergman worked with. Maybe his other leads were stars at home, but she's the first one for me where charisma really came across. The movie suffers in the second act when she's not on screen. (NB She does a nude scene too - running naked across the room getting changed, showing her backside and a bit of boob. It really surprised me.)
This is a heartwarming, very well done movie with Bergman's increasing confidence evident. Maybe a bit silly but I went with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment